Mamdani Skips Israel Parade as Smotrich Draws Backlash
Zohran Mamdani skipped New York City's annual israel parade on Sunday, after saying during the campaign trail that he would not attend and that he had made his views on the Israeli government abundantly clear. Mamdani is believed to be the first mayor to miss the parade since it began in 1964.
The absence became the day's sharpest political signal: Brad Lander stayed away, along with the progressive groups Israelis for Peace and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, while Jessica Tisch, Chuck Schumer, Dan Goldman, Jerry Nadler, Kathy Hochul, Letitia James, Eric Adams, Michael and Andrew Cuomo attended.
Smotrich at the parade
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's finance minister and a leading figure on Israel's nationalist right, also attended. His first trip to the United States since March last year came nearly two weeks after he said the international criminal court was seeking an arrest warrant against him. Critics described his presence as the point that turned a routine civic march into a political test for New York Democrats.
Jessica Tisch answered the pressure on attendance with a line that drew its own attention at the parade: “It is the mayor’s decision not to march, and it is my decision to march proudly.” Jonathan Greenblatt called Mamdani's absence “an ideological assertion and a disgraceful one.”
Hochul and James respond
On Monday, Kathy Hochul wrote on X that Smotrich is “a far-right extremist whose hateful and divisive rhetoric is fundamentally at odds with the values we hold dear in New York. Yesterday’s parade was a celebration of Jewish pride, community, and unity. I strongly condemn his participation.” Letitia James wrote, “Islamophobia has no place in New York.”
Mamdani's stance has left New York politics in a familiar split over how far elected officials should go in balancing solidarity with the parade against opposition to the Israeli government. The immediate question for the city is not whether the march happened — it did — but how openly its most visible Democrats now want to define their distance from Smotrich and from Mamdani's refusal to be there.
